Madeira News Blog

Today’s photos – Many thanks to Pete … "Tail of 3 Ribeiras of Funchal. Are they trying to tell us something, about land erosion and the environment? 1st pic Ribeira de São João   2nd Ribeira de Santa Luzia,  3rd Ribeira de João Gomes. Der – Would a Ribeira campaign of asking people for photos help to make thing more aware in the blog help?". It might do Pete, but please don’t look to me to run it or publicise, as I have more than enough on my plate … any volunteers?

Ken emailed me with this story, thank you : Unfortunate Experience. Having met our family who are on a visit to Madeira, at the airport last night (Saturday, 27th March), we were driving home in Tandem, myself leading my son who was driving a hired car, to go to our home in Estreito da Calheta. Going down the long decline on the Expressway after the exit to Madeira shopping, we were in the right hand lane as we didn’t want to drive faster than about 80 km per hour. Cars were obviously passing us as usual in the left hand passing lane, going down the hill towards the big bridge in the valley. Suddenly we noticed that the flow of passing cars had slowed to our pace, and in fact the pace of cars ahead of us in the right hand lane had also slowed to below 70 kph. The reason soon became clear as we saw a small car ahead in our lane weaving dangerously from side to side. It sometimes went right across the middle line of the road and then back again. The car we saw later was an older model Ford Fiesta, dark blue/black. Both lanes of traffic were reduced to the speed of the offending car, the driver of which seemed to be under the influence of alcohol or perhaps something else.

One or two cars tried to overtake the weaving car, but were forced back by the erratic track of the offender. With the number of cars backed up behind us, my son who is a driver with years of experience of driving on the freeways in and around Los Angeles, who was in the hired Ford Focus, decided to lead the way in overtaking the offender, which he did but for his troubles received a slight side swipe from the inebriate driven vehicle. This was as we were going through Câmara do Lobos at about 20H10. Once my son had overtaken him, the driver of the offending car seemed to get a grip on himself, and stick more to the right hand side of the road than he had previously, and the backlog of cars then followed my son’s example, and went past the offending car. After the rush petered out, we too were able to pass the car. It was driven by a sole occupant. Prior to our overtaking him , whilst he was going through a tunnel, he was in fact so far over to the right that he ran against the walkway curb.

I wonder if any of your other readers were perhaps involved in this incident and can perhaps tell us what the final outcome was. We unfortunately didn’t take the registration of the car. We just hope that no disaster happened either to the stupid driver, or any innocent bystander.

Many thanks to Elaine (East) for these web snippets :

Madeira appeal could top 100,000 pounds. Jersey Appeal

PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD WITH OUR GUIDE TO HIKING HOLS More calorie-based incentives – do the walk, you get to have your Madeira cake and eat it. NEWS OF THE WORLD

Many thanks to Becky for this video and web snippet :

Madeira Island – as beautiful as ever

A comprehensive travel blog from 2008:  "Funchal itself clusters in a valley around a pleasant bay but, as I said, don’t expect a beach. The sea-shore offers only dingy pebbles, and you won’t see anyone bathing. I only saw a few kids on the pebbles and one of the few homeless to be found there. This particular chap was dressed as if for the Arctic, wore the traditional woollen hat with side-flaps – the story has it that these are so the men can let them down to block out nagging wives – they’re considering it for export – and he wore a huge gold chain and medallion around his neck along the lines of a mayor. (Unless he was, indeed, the mayor of Funchal, I would have thought that the police should have taken a closer look at his regalia than I did.)" TRAVEL BLOG

"A nice balanced piece I thought" – Adrian. Bargains to bag as Madeira gets back to normal – Places that rely on tourism for their livelihood develop the ability to bounce back from disaster.  Madeira hit the news in February when a month’s worth of rain fell in just one hour, triggering appalling landslides that temporarily paralysed the island’s capital, Funchal. It was a cataclysmic event that claimed 42 lives and made 200 homeless. Yet within days, the Portuguese island in the Atlantic, famous for its mild climate, was attempting to convince travellers that it was back in business. Previous experience of such disasters suggests that people are inevitably affected by the negative news stories. The TV cameras reveal awful pictures of destruction yet there is no follow-up which shows that things have returned to normal. The Madeira tourist office has vociferously appealed to people not to cancel planned holidays to the island – with limited success. The result is that, in the words of one UK Madeira specialist: "Bookings have fallen off a cliff." In these situations the way to recovery usually lies through cut-price deals. For anyone planning to travel in April, for example, there are extraordinarily good buys to Funchal. Teletext Holidays WEBSITE is offering a seven-night package to a three star hotel for just £186 including a return flight from Gatwick – seven nights’ half-board at a top-grade hotel costs £444. While there are still signs of damage, the message is that Madeira is almost completely back to normal. At the prices currently available, it’s a prospect too good to miss. Frank Barrett.  (Mail on Sunday Travel 28/03/10). Many thanks Adrian.

‘Cheetahs of the Deep’ and other whales off the Calheta Coast! The blog site of the whale & dolphin watching boat ‘Lobosonda’ is reporting with photos impressive sightings in the last few days. Among them are Pilot Whales. The North Atlantic Ocean population runs, in a band that runs from South Carolina in the United States across to Madeira, the Azores and Morocco.

Length (metres): Adults are 3.5 – 6.5 metres in length. When they are born short-finned pilot whales are about 1.4-1.9 metres long.

Weight: At birth, Short-finned Pilot Whales weigh about 60kg (135lb). A fully grown adult will weigh between 1 and 4 tonnes.

Diet: Fish, Squid, Octopus

Life span is about 45 years in males and 60 years in females for both species. Image caption: Globicephala macrorhynchus, The Short-finned Pilot Whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus)

Logging, lobtailing, slapping flukes, porpoise and spyhopping. Short-finned Pilot Whales are very sociable and are rarely seen alone. They are found in groups of ten to thirty, though some pods are as large as sixty. They are sometimes seen logging and will allow boats to get quite close. They rarely breach, but may be seen lobtailing (slapping their flukes on the water surface) and spyhopping (poking their heads above the surface). Before diving, they arch their tails and raise them above the surface. When coming to the surface to breathe, adults tend to show only the top of their head, whereas calves will throw their entire head out of the water. Adults occasionally porpoise (lift most of the body out of the water) when swimming particularly quickly. They are known as the ‘Cheetahs of the Deep’ for the high speed pursuits of squids at depths of hundreds of metres.

Fin whales off the Calheta Coast! Also, Lobosonda has sighted Fin whales. “In the morning there were 4 fin whales that rushed very fast to the east, in the afternoon there were 3 fin whales which went for a while just beside our boat.” They are the second largest whales and the second largest living animal after the blue whale growing to nearly 27 metres long. They live to 94 years of age. Its food consists of small schooling fish, squid, and crustaceans including mysids and krill. Image caption: Fin whale off the Calheta Coast, Madeira.

Image : Fin whale size.  Wiki pages: FIN WHALE PILOT WHALE Link to Lobosonda’s blog:

Many thanks to Paul for all that information on our oversized neighbours. 

Today’s news headlines from the front page of the Diário de Notícias :

To purchase a house on Madeira is more expensive – A bank assessment in the Region comes up with values superior to the national average by almost 25%. The price of construction is higher, and the consequent bank evaluations even more so. Madeira has the highest rating in Portugal. According to a study by the National Institute of Statistics, the average bank evaluation on housing in Portugal, during the month of February, stood at 1,183 Euros per square meter, or 0.5% less than in January, but more than 4.5% higher compared to February last year. However the banks have evaluated the value per square metre on Madeira to be €1,470, 24.2% higher than the average for Portugal.

Today’s main news headline : Storm already caused three lawsuits – There are two criminal complaints lodged by relatives of victims (crane and landfill) and an investigation initiated by the MP (Babosas). One of the cases (pictured) is of a crane that fell in Laranjal killing people. One of the lawsuits has actually been instigated by the Prosecution Service (MP) itself, after hearing news and complaints about the situation in Babosas, something that the MP has the power to do. There will be other such cases for sure, as 6 months are allowed from the date of the incident to formalise complaints.

Diocese doesn’t comment on the suspicions of paedophilia – There are cases of two padres on Madeira. But Paço says to the Diário that doesn’t talk "based on conjecture". And that "if there are cases being investigated, they should be investigated, proved, and that each one  assume their own responsibilities". The Diocese ignores investigations of members of the clergy suspected of sexually abusing minors that occurred in 2008 and 2009, according to church spokesman, Father Marcos Gonçalves. The Justice Police are investigating cases following the receipt of anonymous letters.

Free calls to South Africa and Venezuela. Almost old news really, as Cable TV company Zon offers free calls to fixed phones in those two countries between 9 pm and 9 am, from next month. That’s using the telephone package that costs €9.99 per month. The change has happened as Zon increased the list of free-to-call countries from 20 to 30. They now include Austria, Germany, Andorra, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, Chile, Peru, Australia, China, Japan, Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Canada and USA. With Canada and the USA  you can also make free calls to mobile networks, no doubt subject to some restrictions or conditions, before someone finds out otherwise and sues me.

Social Democrat Party conditions representative of the Socialist Party on the table of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira – Ramos only accepts Serrão.

PP [Peoples Party] criticises deputies on holiday with support, when there are matters from the storm to be dealt with.  Had to guess that one a bit, seemed an impossible headline to translate, but even the Diário often makes errors, even on the front page.

If anyone else can oblige with the translation of any of the ‘blank’ or sparsely filled headlines, or other news stories, here is the link. All contributions much appreciated. 

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If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or good or bad experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. Please don’t send in automatic translations (like Google translator) without checking them through and correcting them first, thanks.

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions and other material.

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Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

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Today’s photo – Many thanks to Eiryl … Xmas scene from Câmara de Lobos

The Jersey Evening Post reports that traditions travel : Mr De Sousa said: ‘Last year I created something like this in Madeira where this sort of thing is typical. I think that this is the best thing for Christmas as you need more than just a tree to mark the occasion. We have even had one class of schoolchildren come and visit. They all took a picture and said how wonderful it was. People just love it and I am very happy to see them so excited.’ No room at the inn … but there’s space in the garage

What do you put on the dinner table at a climate conference? The answer: you make sure that the carbon footprint is low. Indeed, key ingredients for the royal banquet placed the emphasis on locally-sourced products rather than exotic materials flown in from afar … Madere Hors d’Age. Madeira is a fortified wine made in the Madeira Islands, which belong to Portugal. The wine is produced in a variety of styles ranging from dry to sweet wines. The islands of Madeira have a long wine making history dating back to the days when Madeira was a standard port of call for ships heading to the New World or the East Indies. To prevent the wine from spoiling, neutral grape spirit was added. On the long sea voyages, the wines would be exposed to excessive heat and movement which transformed the flavor of the wine as the wine producers of Madeira found out when an unsold shipment of wine returned to the islands after a round trip. Today, Madeira is noted for its unique wine making process which involves heating the wine up for an extended period of time and deliberately exposing the wine to some levels of oxidation. Judging from the outcome of the conference in Copenhagen, Madeira Wine also doesn’t reach the parts that other wines don’t reach. Madere Hors d’Age on the menu

Anyone thinking of checking in on the blog tomorrow, I can’t promise anything. I worked the last two Christmases, and the blog had as many visitors as any other day, but us bloggers need a few hours off now and again, as I said I can’t promise anything. I will make a posting I will prepare later, perhaps just a photo to start with, and we can see what happens from there. You can leave an Xmas message, a humorous one if you like, or whatever you fancy.

More than four thousand toys for needy children – Success of the campaign ‘Brinquedão’ is a result of the solidarity of the Madeirans. The collections centred in the Madeira Forum will result in 4,200 books and toys being given to children in institutions within Madeira’s social support network. The donations are both new and used, and were given in the build up to Christmas. The campaign almost doubled what was collected last year. The Foundation D. Jacinta Pereira de Ornelas and the Movimento de Apoio à Criança (Child Support Movement) are the beneficiaries of the initiative.

Crude oil slick sighted on the North of the island – A Navy ship was sent to the scene. The Navy is at the scene to measure the extent of the slick and collect samples for analysis.

Madeira is the main destination for the Portuguese during Christmas and through the new year – Crisis impedes a general increase in the end-of-year travel sales. The effects of the economic crisis are still making themselves felt, and the Portuguese are not spending much on travel during the festive season, although sales are expected to be close to the level registered in 2008. The travel agents are not suffering (financial?) losses compared to 2008, but any improvements are few and reduced (in  value?). According to the Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agents (APAVT), sales of travel this year have fallen around 15%. Aside from the crisis, Gripe A concerns have taken their toll. APAVT data indicates that there is a growing demand for domestic destinations, at the cost of some travel locations abroad, and that Madeira is the clear favourite. The rise in the number of Portuguese holidaying on Madeira has really been a blessing this year, and I hate to think what the 13,500 unemployment figure would have been like if this hadn’t been the case. And that wouldn’t have happened without the general reduction in the price and additional availability of flying options between Portugal and Madeira. The politicians and airlines that made it possible for sure had other motives in their involvement, but even so they have unwittingly saved Madeira (so far) from a far worse economic crisis than the bad one we are currently facing.

Today’s news headlines from the front page of the Diário de Notícias, absolutely loads of them :

People defy the bad weather and come down to Market Night – The rain came at the time of the interval yesterday at the start of the night. The people took advantage. (hope that makes sense, as it doesn’t to me). I saw some coverage on the 9 pm local news last night, and quite a few people were milling around, but not too many smiling it seemed. Less people attended than usual, a fact confirmed by the fact there was less rubbish to clear up this morning. The clean up team was organised by the council to start work at 5.30 this morning in the Market Night vicinity. The counsellor in charge of the clean-up, Henrique Costa Neves, commented that "there could have been a little more civility", because the garbage ended up outside the catchment area and to some extent all over the city. Well of course he is right, and whilst I have no idea whether there were adequate rubbish bins spread around, he is being a bit of a humbug. Of course people make a mess, but when their behaviour is influenced by alcohol into the early hours of the morning, things can get even messier. Who supports the event, who issues licences to the sellers (who originate the rubbish), and who issues licences to those who sell the booze? … Funchal Council of course. Sr. Neves didn’t create the rubbish, but his council facilitated it!

Today’s main news headline : Nurses expose environment of terror – The president of the Order [of Nurses] say there there is a concerted action coming from the highest level to hide the problems in the health Service. The expulsion of the head of nursing at Santo António is an example of the "climate of fear and persecution". "There is a concerted action at the highest level of the hierarchy of the Health Service with the aim of silencing the more assertive voices, or silencing those who are closer to the users and that know the problems and needs". The complaint is made by Élvio Jesus, president of the Order of Nurses, who speaks of the existence of a "climate of fear and persecution" in order to silence those who know from the inside, what goes wrong in the health system of Madeira. This ‘climate of fear’ shows in the removal of the head nurse at the Health Centre of Santo António, who blew the whistle on doctors and politicians getting friends and families vaccinated quicker against Gripe A,  but also has deeper consequences. Nothing new here … it is reported frequently that the Health Service is run in the fashion that  Uncle Bertie runs the government, and that the government runs Madeira.  Even the Regional Health Secretary opts to keep quiet on the matter. Anyone attempting to speak out about a wrong is told to shut up, and probably threatened with some sort of big bertie stick if not.

The main photo today continues the weather theme of most of the last week, and shows a road and supporting wall which has half collapsed into a river, and looks like it will be very expensive to repair. Storm continues its destruction and  the spread of chaos – In São Vicente, isolated locations and houses are at risk of collapse.

Santana : 4 parishes (freguesias) without drinking water.

Torrent bursts through promenades at Faial and Madalena.

Santa Cruz : fall of trees damages houses and cars.

Floods and rock falls in Funchal and in Curral [Valley of the Nuns].

Mistakes cost more than €300,000 in a laboratory construction – Further works to will worsen the cost of the Veterinary Laboratory.

Elaine (west) has kindly covered some of the above bad weather stories … many thanks.

Bad weather devastates São Vicente – "The pig was drowned in the pen, the chickens and the dogs died". Most of the inhabitants of São Vicente woke up joyless, others with no desire to live. There were many tears shed throughout the day yesterday, particularly in sites of Rosário, Ginjas and Ribeira Grande, where the storm’s trail of destruction left a family homeless and several homes at risk of collapse. A desolate scene. The uplands of Rosário and Ribeira Grande were the worst affected, and there was panic to take care of several families. There was criticism of the lack of cleanliness of streams and of discharge of waste. The family of Leonitina Camacho was until yesterday afternoon the only one to be relocated. The water rose through the river bed destroying part of the house. A few meters from the entrance gate, the Vargem de Cima road was literally ‘bitten off’ by the current. "There was despair. No one got any sleep all night," she reported, her nerves still on edge. Nearby, Helena Silva was in tears as she tried to protect her husband’s car. "In another 10 minutes the river could sweep the car away.” Below, on the other side of the river lives Luciano Gomes. He is paraplegic and saw the water steal the few belongings he had. He told the Diário that all he had was some clothes and his wheelchair. "I have nothing left," he said. Waiting for the weather to improve was a group of men, all in their 30s. All knew that the weather report indicated more rain and more wind for a second night. José Manuel Rui Camacho had almost lost his cars. "The water nearly dragged them over the bridge. I had to tie them with rope otherwise they would have been in the river below," he said.

In Ginjas the picture, though bleak, does not compare to the neighbouring village. Fatima Lira lamented the loss of property and animals. "The pig is drowned in the pigsty. The chickens died, and the dogs," she weeps. In the village, the morning also brought the discovery of the damage. In the Galleon Trade Centre. Gabriel Cunha has not yet worked out the cost of the damage to his store. "It certainly exceeds 5,000 Euros," he estimated. The insurance policy provides cover the damage, but the construction of the pavement had facilitated the entry of water into his premises. However, another trader, Tomas Jesus, does not have insurance to cover his flooding totalling 2,500-3,000 Euros. Both lamented the loss of stock at a time when things are difficult. Ribeira Grande is causing greatest concern to the authorities. 50 residents are at serious risk. Cláudia Silva (21) could not get home. "I finished work at 10 pm and when I got here (on the bridge of Ribeira Grande) I saw that I couldn’t even get home on foot", she said. For 20 hours she tried to contact her father who was not at home. Then the phones died. "There was no phone connection, no way to travel on the roads, and no electricity. We were totally isolated from the rest of the world.” In the town the damage is enormous. In the worst case the water was up to the roof of a garage. Farmers were left without their plots of land. In the village of São Vicente the supporting walls of the chapel (built in 1694) were battered by the sea. The storm spared the religious monument. Above, the expressway between the roundabout and Loural Fire Station is closed.

PP Peoples Party  presents in São Bento [Lisbon Parliament] law to share out advertising.

‘Lobo Marinho’ returned to stay in Funchal. Commander of the ship predicts the next journey to Porto Santo will be on Saturday. Rough seas make docking impossible at Porto Santo, so the ferry returned to Funchal this Thursday morning. The first flights out today from Madeira went as planned, although a flight from Frankfurt had to stay airborne for a while until there was an improvement in weather conditions. The airport management company predicts that there will be some delays.

If anyone else can oblige with the translation of any of the ‘blank’ or sparsely filled headlines, or other news stories, here is the link Thank you in anticipation.

Oh what bliss it was to sleep through the night last night without the mega-bangers at 5 am, 6 am, and 7 am for the Missa do Parto. I ended up sleeping through to 9.30 am undisturbed, and today was a day I really wanted to get up early, and now I am all behind. 9 days of just 3 or 4 hours sleep has taken it’s toll, and I am knackered, although from the comments the last few days it seems that many people are having a less than desirable run up to Christmas. A friend of mine coming from Ireland via England to stay over Xmas was supposed to have arrived Wednesday. His flight was cancelled, and he has had to stay in hotels and rebook a flight with another airline for tomorrow at a different airport (250 km away) because of weather problems in the UK. When he rang to tell me about the delays, I reluctantly told him of the weather problems at this end and the impact on flights, and he was none too pleased. If I can keep my eyes open long enough, I am really looking forward to tonight, as town will come to live after about 12.30 am, after the Missa do Galo has finished in the local church, but the feeling is locally that even if the rain holds off, many people will head home early and town will close much earlier than it normally does. It seems strange that the Missa do Galo (cock / rooster) is at midnight, as that would be the more apt name for the 9 early morning services. It was bedlam in the local Pingo Doce this morning, but I am glad I got there reasonably early, failing to find just potatoes, although they did have some really expensive ones.

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If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or good or bad experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a photo or video, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. Please don’t send in automatic translations (like Google translator) without checking them through and correcting them first, thanks.

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions and photos / videos.

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Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

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